Oral stage

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The oral stage in psychology is the term used by Sigmund Freud to describe the child's development during the first 18 to 24 months of life, in which an infant's pleasure centers are in the mouth. This is the first of Freud's psychosexual stages.

This is the infant's first relationship with its mother; it is a nutritive one. The length of this stage depends on the society. In some societies it is common for a child to be nursed by its mother for several years, whereas this stage is much shorter in other societies. This stage, especially in some tribal societies, holds special importance because they consider the stomach to be the seat of emotions. These societies that see this stage as medicinal are commonly found in the Southwest Pacific and Africa, something which is referred to by Hilary Jacobson in her book, 'Mother Food for Breastfeeding Mothers'.

[edit] Oral fixation

For other uses, see Oral fixation (disambiguation)

An oral fixation (also oral craving) is a fixation in the oral stage of development and manifested by an obsession with stimulating the mouth (oral), first described by Sigmund Freud.

According to Freud, infants are naturally and adaptively in an oral stage, but if weaned too early or too late, there may be a subsequent failure to resolve the conflicts of this stage and to develop a maladaptive oral fixation. In later life, these people may constantly "hunger" for activities involving the mouth.

If a child was not fed enough or was fed too much (over-protected), this may later create an oral fixation in that adult. It is believed that fixation in the oral stage can cause one of two things. If the child was treated well, fed adequately, he will be orally dependent, and therefore selfish and wanton because he is used to getting what he wants. He might learn to manipulate others to fulfill his needs rather than maturing to independence. The overly indulged child may resist growing up and try to return to that state of dependency through crying, acting helpless, demanding satisfaction, and being "needy."

Oral fixations are considered to contribute to over-eating, being overly talkative, smoking addictions and alcoholism (known as "oral dependent" qualities). Other symptoms include a sarcastic or "biting" personality (known as "oral sadistic" qualities).

Critics of Freud's theories doubt that such a thing as "oral fixation" can explain adult behaviors, and that subscribing to this simplistic explanation can prevent the exploration of other possible causes that may occur. Even psychoanalytically oriented practitioners have broadened their understandings of fixations beyond simple stage theory.